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The SEC’s action against Ripple had totally plummeted the value of XRP, then the 3rd largest cryptocurrency in the market. Even though XRP is now ranked 7th, its capitalization exceeds its pre-crisis level. Until a court decision?
XRP holders are very upset with the SEC and the exchanges, which following the complaint decided to withdraw the token from listing in the United States. For these investors, billions of dollars of capitalization went up in smoke.
But that was before. Indeed, the value of the crypto-asset has largely recovered since then, notes Decrypt. A few numbers to illustrate this? On April 2, XRP’s market capitalization reached $27.9 billion.
For comparison, it was below 27 billion on December 18, 4 days before the SEC formalized its complaint against Ripple. The stock market watchdog blames it for a security issue.
This legal threat remains. Would investors be less sensitive to it? Since the beginning of 2021, the XRP price has risen by more than 150%. On April 5th, the token was trading at $0.61.
So admittedly, XRP is no longer the third largest cryptocurrency behind the unattainable Bitcoin and Ethereum. For all that, its total capitalization is indeed growing. And this 7th rank, it owes it to a lesser performance than its rivals.
Perhaps this is proof that investors are not really forgetting the threat that still hangs over Ripple. But this could ultimately be resolved by a heavy fine and an agreement with the regulator.
In any case, XRP is showing strong resilience. Recall that its price used to fall as low as $0.17. But already in February, the token returned, albeit briefly, to the $0.60 mark. Two weeks later, it was back at $0.41.
Another cryptocurrency has shown that sanctions by the authorities do not necessarily mean the end. After years of proceedings, Tether walks away with $18.5 million in fines, but no admission of guilt.
The founders of Ripple would probably be happy with such a scenario. The wrangling with the SEC will continue for months. In the meantime, XRP is on the rise again. And with 170% growth in 2021, it even has the luxury of doing better than Bitcoin and Ether.